MIMO precoding enabling spatial multiplexing, power allocation and adaptive modulation and coding

ABSTRACT

In a closed-loop wireless communication system, a codebook-based feedback mechanism is provided to enable non-unitary precoding for multi-stream transmission, where in each stream is optimized with suitable transmission power allocation and AMC. The codebook-based feedback mechanism uses a precoding codebook having a power allocation matrix which is constrained to specify that beamforming always applies full power to a predetermined beam. With this constraint, a one-bit power allocation feedback index may be used to switch between beamforming and spatial multiplexing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is directed in general to field of informationprocessing. In one aspect, the present invention relates to a system andmethod for precoding feedback in MIMO communication systems.

2. Description of the Related Art

Wireless communication systems transmit and receive signals within adesignated electromagnetic frequency spectrum, but the capacity of theelectromagnetic frequency spectrum is limited. As the demand forwireless communication systems continues to expand, there are increasingchallenges to improve spectrum usage efficiency. To improve thecommunication capacity of the systems while reducing the sensitivity ofthe systems to noise and interference and limiting the power of thetransmissions, a number of wireless communication techniques have beenproposed, such as Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), which is atransmission method involving multiple transmit antennas and multiplereceive antennas. For example, space division multiple access (SDMA)systems can be implemented as closed-loop systems to improve spectrumusage efficiency. SDMA has recently emerged as a popular technique forthe next generation communication systems. SDMA based methods have beenadopted in several current emerging standards such as IEEE 802.16 andthe 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE)platform.

FIG. 1 depicts a MIMO wireless communication system 100 in which atransmitter 102 having a first antenna array 106 communicates withreceiver 104 having a second antenna array 108, where each antenna arrayincludes one or more antennas. The communication system 100 may be anytype of wireless communication system, including but not limited to aMIMO system, SDMA system, CDMA system, OFDMA system, OFDM system, etc.In the communication system 100, the transmitter 102 may act as a basestation, while the receiver 104 acts as a subscriber station, which canbe virtually any type of wireless one-way or two-way communicationdevice such as a cellular telephone, wireless equipped computer system,and wireless personal digital assistant. Of course, thereceiver/subscriber station 104 can also transmits signals which arereceived by the transmitter/base station 102. The signals communicatedbetween transmitter 102 and receiver 104 can include voice, data,electronic mail, video, and other data, voice, and video signals. Inoperation, the transmitter 102 transmits a signal data stream (e.g.,signal s₁) through one or more antennas 106 and over a channel H₁ to areceiver 104, which combines the received signal from one or morereceive antennas 108 to reconstruct the transmitted data. To transmitthe signal s₁, the transmitter 102 prepares a transmission signal,represented by the vector x₁, for the signal s₁. (Note: lower case boldvariables indicate vectors and upper case BOLD variables indicatematrices). The transmission signal vector x₁ is transmitted via achannel represented by a channel matrix H₁, and is received at thereceiver 104 as a receive signal vector y₁=H₁x₁+n₁ (where n representsco-channel interference or noise). The channel matrix H₁ represents achannel gain between the transmitter antenna array 106 and thesubscriber station antenna array 108. Thus, the channel matrix H₁ can berepresented by a k×N matrix of complex coefficients, where N is thenumber of antennas in the base station antenna array 106 and k is thenumber of antennas in the subscriber station antenna array 108. Thevalue of k can be unique for each subscriber station. As will beappreciated, the channel matrix H₁ can instead be represented by a N×kmatrix of complex coefficients, in which case the matrix manipulationalgorithms are adjusted accordingly so that, for example, the rightsingular vector calculation on a k×N channel matrix becomes a leftsingular vector calculation on a N×k channel matrix. The coefficients ofthe channel matrix H₁ depend, at least in part, on the transmissioncharacteristics of the medium, such as air, through which a signal istransmitted. A variety of methods may be used at the receiver todetermine the channel matrix H₁ coefficients, such as transmitting aknown pilot signal to a receiver so that the receiver, knowing the pilotsignal, can estimate the coefficients of the channel matrix H₁ usingwell-known pilot estimation techniques. Alternatively, when the channelbetween the transmitter and receiver are reciprocal in both directions,the actual channel matrix H₁ is known to the receiver and may also beknown to the transmitter.

While the benefits of MIMO are realizable when the receiver 104 aloneknows the communication channel, these benefits are further enhanced in“closed-loop” MIMO systems when the transmitter 102 has some level ofknowledge concerning the channel response between each transmit antennaelement and each receive antenna element. Precoding systems provide anexample application of closed-loop systems which exploit channel-sideinformation at the transmitter (“CSIT”). With precoding systems, CSITcan be used with a variety of communication techniques to operate on thetransmit signal before transmitting from the transmit antenna array 106.For example, precoding techniques can provide a multi-mode beamformerfunction to optimally match the input signal on one side to the channelon the other side. In situations where channel conditions are unstableor unknown, open loop MIMO techniques such as spatial multiplexing canbe used. However, when the channel conditions can be provided to thetransmitter, closed loop MIMO methods such as precoding can be used.Precoding techniques may be used to decouple the transmit signal intoorthogonal spatial stream/beams, and additionally may be used to sendmore power along the beams where the channel is strong, but less or nopower along the weak, thus enhancing system performance by improvingdata rates and link reliability. In addition to multi-streamtransmission and power allocation techniques, adaptive modulation andcoding (AMC) techniques can use CSIT to operate on the transmit signalbefore transmission on the array 106.

Conventional precoded MIMO systems may obtain full broadband channelknowledge at the transmitter 102 by using uplink sounding techniques(e.g., with Time Division Duplexing (TDD) systems). Alternatively,channel feedback techniques can be used with MIMO systems (e.g., withTDD or Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) systems) to feed back channelinformation to the transmitter 102. One way of implementing precodingover a low rate feedback channel is to use codebook-based precoding toreduce the amount of feedback as compared to full channel feedback.However, such precoding feedback can introduce delay whentransmission-related decisions (such as whether to use spatialmultiplexing or beamforming, i.e., multi-stream or single streamtransmission, or whether to use open loop or closed loop transmission)are made at the transmitter only after receiving the channel informationfeedback signal and/or when the transmission-related decisions are madein the upper software layers (e.g., the MAC layer) of the transmitter102. In addition, the quantization techniques used in existing codebooksystems to compress the channel feedback information can introduceerrors in the feedback signal. Moreover, the limited feedback resourcesrequire that any practical system be designed to have a low feedbackrate, and existing codebook systems can have unacceptably high feedbackdata rates. This may be illustrated with the example of a MIMO system100 having a four-antenna transmit array 106 and a two-antenna receivearray 108, where a unitary precoding matrix W and a non-unitary powerallocation precoding matrix D (not shown) are applied at the transmitter102 to precode the transmit signal vector s₁ (such that x₁=WD s₁). Withsuch a system that is used to provide both spatial multiplexing andbeamforming, the power allocation values d₁, d₂ of the non-unitaryprecoding matrix

$D = \begin{bmatrix}d_{1} & 0 \\0 & d_{2}\end{bmatrix}$

are each selected from the set of {0, 1, ½}, and each power allocationvalue is represented by a two-bit feedback value to choose from the setof three possible values. The two-bit feedback allows each of the powerallocation values to be specified for spatial multiplexing—(d₁, d₂)=(½,½)—and also separately for each instance of beamforming—e.g., (d₁,d₂)=(1, 0) and (d₁, d₂)=(0, 1). However, using two or more feedback bitsto specify just the d₁ and d₂ values, not to mention additionalprecoding feedback bits for W, can impair feedback performance.

Accordingly, an efficient feedback methodology is needed to provideprecoding feedback to the transmitter using a codebook to reduce thesize of the feedback signal while sustaining a minimal loss in linkperformance. There is also a need for an improved feedback system whichavoids degrading uplink performance and reduces long feedback delay. Inaddition, there is a need for a system and methodology for reducing theaverage precoder feedback rate to reduce uplink performance loss andfeedback delay. Further limitations and disadvantages of conventionalprocesses and technologies will become apparent to one of skill in theart after reviewing the remainder of the present application withreference to the drawings and detailed description which follow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention may be understood, and its numerous objects,features and advantages obtained, when the following detaileddescription of a preferred embodiment is considered in conjunction withthe following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 (labeled prior art) depicts a wireless communication system.

FIG. 2 depicts a wireless communication system in which limited feedbackcodebooks are used at a base station and subscriber stations.

FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram of a transmitter using a non-unitaryprecoder codebook.

FIG. 4 depicts a first example flow for a non-unitary precodingmethodology for generating and feeding back a precoder index.

FIG. 5 depicts a process flow for feeding back a codebook-based precoderindex to specify an optimal unitary codematrix value and powerallocation value.

FIG. 6 depicts two process flows for encoding and feeding back CQIvalues to specify the use of spatial multiplexing or beamforming at thetransmitter.

It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration,elements illustrated in the drawings have not necessarily been drawn toscale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements areexaggerated relative to other elements for purposes of promoting andimproving clarity and understanding. Further, where consideredappropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the drawings torepresent corresponding or analogous elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A feedback control system and methodology are described for use inefficiently providing precoder feedback in wireless multi-input,multiple output (MIMO) systems. Using codebook-based precodingtechniques, multi-stream transmission is enabled so that each stream isoptimized with suitable precoding techniques, transmission powerallocation and adaptive modulation and coding (AMC). In various exampleembodiments, a precoder matrix P is implemented with the matrix P=WD,where W is a unitary matrix coming from a pre-specified codebook, and Dis a diagonal power allocation matrix referring to powers allocated tothe streams. By choosing the per-stream powers in the non-unitary matrixD from a predetermined set of quantized values, the spectral efficiencyof the link may be optimized based on the set of available AMCcurves/profiles, and the precoding feedback can be provided with asmaller feedback to switch between beamforming and spatial multiplexing.For example, in the case of a 2×2 MIMO system where two streams can besent, by specifying that the power allocation value d, of thenon-unitary diagonal matrix

$D = \begin{bmatrix}d_{1} & 0 \\0 & d_{2}\end{bmatrix}$

is selected from the set of {1, ½}, then a power allocation value ofd₁=½ implies that d₂=½ and that a spatial multiplexing power allocation(two stream transmission) is being specified, while a power allocationvalue of d₁=1 implies that d₂=0 and that a beamforming power allocation(single stream transmission) is being specified. So long as the D matrixis constrained to specify that all beamforming power allocations areforced to transmit full power on a predetermined stream (e.g., d₁), eachpower allocation value in the D matrix may be represented by a one-bitfeedback value. To accommodate such design constraints on the D matrix,the spatial streams may be processed before selecting the codematrixvalues for the unitary matrix W to reflect the implicit beamformingpower allocation specified by the predetermined set of quantized values.With this example design constraint for the D matrix, the transmittedstreams or beams would be manipulated to reposition or swap the dominanttransmitted stream with the stream in the first position beforeselecting the codematrix values for the unitary matrix W. Of course, ifthe D matrix specifies that full beamforming power is applied to anotherstream (e.g., d₂), then the eigenvector manipulation would be adjustedaccordingly. By constraining the design of the D matrix in this way, asingle bit of feedback may be used to switch between spatialmultiplexing and beamforming, where the single bit specifies a firstpower allocation for spatial multiplexing (e.g., both streams aretransmitted with half power) with a first value, and specifies a secondpower allocation for beamforming (e.g., where the first stream istransmitted with full power and the second stream with zero power) witha second value. Further, in order to facilitate switching betweenclosed-loop and open-loop transmission, the codebook for the unitarymatrix W should include one entry that is the identity matrix for usewith open-loop transmissions. Thus, open loop transmission can befacilitated by using the identity matrix from the codebook for W andhaving d₁=½ and d₂=½. As will be appreciated, the foregoing techniquesmay be applied to codebooks having more than two possible values. Forexample, where the power levels per stream in the non-unitary matrix Dare selected from a finite set of m quantized values, a codebook havinga size m(n-1) would require only log₂m^(n-1)) bits of feedback. As willbe appreciated, other transmission profile parameters that are fed backto the transmitter may be encoded to indicate if spatial multiplexing orbeamforming is to be used at the transmitter. For example, the channelquality indicator (CQI) values for the channel streams may be encodedprior to feedback to indicate whether spatial multiplexing orbeamforming is to be used, such as by setting a predetermined CQI valuebelow a threshold value to indicate that beamforming has been chosen orby differentially encoding the CQI values to indicate the relative valueof the current CQI value (as compared to the previous CQI value) and toindicate if beamforming or spatial multiplexing is chosen. Whiledescribed herein with reference to an example 2×2 MIMO system, it willbe appreciated that the present invention may be applied to other MIMOsystem configurations, including but not limited to 4×4 MIMO systems.

Various illustrative embodiments of the present invention will now bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying figures. Whilevarious details are set forth in the following description, it will beappreciated that the present invention may be practiced without thesespecific details, and that numerous implementation-specific decisionsmay be made to the invention described herein to achieve the devicedesigner's specific goals, such as compliance with process technology ordesign-related constraints, which will vary from one implementation toanother. While such a development effort might be complex andtime-consuming, it would nevertheless be a routine undertaking for thoseof ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. Forexample, selected aspects are shown in block diagram form, rather thanin detail, in order to avoid limiting or obscuring the presentinvention. In addition, some portions of the detailed descriptionsprovided herein are presented in terms of algorithms or operations ondata within a computer memory. Such descriptions and representations areused by those skilled in the art to describe and convey the substance oftheir work to others skilled in the art. Various illustrativeembodiments of the present invention will now be described in detailbelow with reference to the figures.

FIG. 2 depicts a wireless communication system 200 in which atransmitter 202 uses codebook based techniques to precode one or moreinput signals that are transmitted from a transmitter 202 (e.g., a basestation) to one or more receivers 204.1-204.m (e.g., subscriberstations). The transmitter 202 includes an array 206 of one or moreantennas for communicating with the receivers 204.1 through 204.m, eachof which includes an array 208.i having one or more antennas forcommunicating with the transmitter 202. In operation, a data signalvector s₁ presented at the transmitter 202 for transmission to thereceiver 204.i is transformed by the signal processor 221.i into atransmission signal represented by the vector x_(i). The signalstransmitted from the transmit antenna 206 propagate through a matrixchannel H_(i) and are received by the receive antennas 208.i where theyare represented by the vector y_(i). For a MIMO channel from thetransmitter 202 to the i^(th) receiver 204.i, the channel is denoted byH_(i), iε{1, 2, . . . , m}. The channel matrix H_(i) may be representedas a k_(i)×N matrix of complex entries representing the complexcoefficients of the transmission channel between each transmit-receiveantenna pair, where N represents the number of transmitter 202 antennas,and k_(i) represents the number of antennas of the i^(th) receiver204.i. At the receiver 204.i, the signal processing unit 209.i processesthe y_(i) signals received on the k antennas to obtain a data signal,z_(i), which is an estimate of the transmitted data vector s_(i). Theprocessing of the received y_(i) signals may include combining the y_(i)signals with appropriate combining vector information 207.i retrievedfrom the codebook 201.i.

Precoding for downlink transmissions (transmitter to receiver) may beimplemented by having each receiver 204.i determine its MIMO channelmatrix H_(i)—which specifies the profile of the transmission channelbetween a transmitter and an i^(th) receiver—in the channel estimationsignal processing unit 209.i. For example, in a MIMO implementation,each receiver 204.1-m determines its MIMO channel matrix H_(i) by usingpilot estimation or sounding techniques to determine or estimate thecoefficients of the channel matrix H_(i). Each receiver 204.i uses theestimated MIMO channel matrix or other channel-related information(which can be channel coefficients or channel statistics or theirfunctions, such as a precoder, a beamforming vector or a modulationorder) to generate precoding information, such as precoding and powerallocation values, appropriate for the MIMO channel matrix. This may bedone by using the channel-related information to access a precoderstored in the receiver codebook 201.i. In addition and depending on thesystem design, each receiver 204.i determines the channel-relatedinformation required for adaptive modulation and coding precoding.

Rather than feeding back the entire vector or matrix representation ofthe transmission channel or related precoding matrix or precodinginformation (which would require a large number of bits), the receiver204.i uses a codebook 201.i to quantize the precoding information thatis generated from the estimated channel matrix information and that willbe used by the transmitter in controlling signal transmission to thereceiver. The receiver codebook 201.i may be used to store an indexedset of possible channel profiles or matrices H_(i) along with associatedprecoding matrix or precoding information so that the estimated channelmatrix information 205.i generated by the signal processing unit 209.ican be used by the codebook selector 203.i to retrieve an index from thelimited feedback codebook 201.i and provide the retrieved index over afeedback channel (e.g., a low rate feedback channel 226) to thetransmitter 202. Based on the feedback of the precoding index, thedecoder 222 at the transmitter 202 retrieves from the codebook 220 amatching transmission channel profile or related precoding information224 for a particular subscriber station 204.i which is used to precodethe transmission signal (e.g., s₁). In this way, codebook-based feedbackenables a variety of techniques, including but not limited to precoding,power allocation, and adaptive modulation and coding. While the presentdescription is directed primarily to the example of performing precodingfor downlink signal transmissions, it will be appreciated that precodingfor uplink transmissions may also be implemented by having thetransmitter 202 determine or estimate the uplink MIMO channel matrixinformation and use this information to generate a precoding index whichis fed back to the receiver 204.i to control signal transmissions fromthe receiver 204.i to the transmitter 202.

FIG. 3 depicts a wireless communication MIMO system 300 in which atransmitter station 301 communicates with m receiver stations 304.1through 304.m. As depicted, the transmitter station 301 includes anarray 303 of multiple antennas for communicating with the receiverstations 304.1 through 304.m, and each receiver station includesrespective antenna arrays for communicating with the transmitter station302. In accordance with various illustrative embodiments of the wirelesscommunication system 300, the transmitter station 301 includes acodebook 302 which is accessed to obtain a transmission profile and/orprecoding information to be used to process the input data signal 304 tomake best use of the existing channel conditions for individual receiverstations. In addition, each receiver station includes the same codebook306.i for use in efficiently transferring information in either thefeedback or feedforward channel, as described herein below.

In various embodiments, the codebook is constructed as a compositeproduct codebook from separable sections, where the codebook index 316may be used to access the different sections of the codebook 302. Forexample, one or more predetermined bits from the codebook index 316 areallocated for accessing the diagonal matrix 312, while a second set ofpredetermined bits from the precoder index 316 is allocated to indicatethe values for the unitary matrix 314 and possibly a third set ofpredetermined bits from the precoder index 316 is allocated to indicatethe modulation and coding used on the streams.

In various embodiments, instead of having a single codebook at each ofthe transmitter and receiver(s), separate codebooks can be stored sothat there is, for example, a codebook for the unitary precoding matrixW, a codebook for the diagonal matrix D, and possibly a codebook for theAMC values. In such a case, separate indices may be generated whereineach index points to a codeword in its corresponding codebook, and eachof these indices may be transmitted over a feedback channel to thetransmitter, so that the transmitter uses these indices to access thecorresponding codewords from the corresponding codebooks and determine atransmission profile or precoding information.

To illustrate an example application where precoding is used to decouplethe input data signal 304 into two orthogonal spatial streams, theunitary matrix W 312 may be implemented after diagonal power allocationmatrix D 312 that is applied to the output of a spatial multiplexer 310to provide the powers to be allocated for each beam. The per-streampower is chosen from a quantized set of power levels to optimize aperformance metric such as spectral efficiency of the link based on theset of available AMC curves/profiles. As for the unitary matrix 314, itmay be implemented as a precoding matrix W from a pre-specifiedcodebook. As a result, the structure of the precoder P 302 may berepresented as P=DW.

In this example application, the size of the codebook used to access theprecoder P 302 may be reduced by constraining the design of the powerallocation matrix D 312 to always use a predetermined stream (e.g., thefirst stream) to provide full power along with forcing the first columnof W to be the dominant column when it is determined that single streamtransmission or beamforming is to be used. As a result, the powerallocation matrix D 312 includes only two values—a “1” to indicate thatbeamforming will occur with full power on the first stream, and a “½” toindicate that spatial multiplexing will occur with half power on thefirst stream. With this constraint, various embodiments of the presentinvention allow a single feedback bit to be used to switch betweenspatial multiplexing (where both streams are transmitted with equal(e.g., 50%) power, d₁=½ and d₂=½) and beamforming (where the firststream is transmitted with full (e.g., 100%) power, d₁=1 and d₂=0). Inparticular, upon receiving a one-bit feedback index indicating that thepower value for the first stream d₁ is “1,” the transmitter 301 canautomatically determine that beamforming has been selected so that thepower value for the second beam d₂ is “0.” Likewise, upon receiving aone-bit feedback index indicating that the power value for the firstbeam d₁ is “½,” the transmitter 301 can automatically determine thatspatial multiplexing has been selected so that the power value for thesecond beam d₂ is “½.”

As a result of this constraint in the design of the power allocationmatrix D 312, the power allocation portion of the precoder index 316need not include feedback bits to separately identify a spatialmultiplexing power allocation and two separate beamforming powerallocations, one for providing full power to the first beam and anotherfor providing full power to the second beam. For example, conventionaltechniques for providing feedback would separately specify all possiblepower allocation values for both beams (d₁ and d₂), requiring as many astwo feedback bits to describe the three possible values (1, ½, 0) forthe first beam d, and consequently three possible values (0, ½, 1) forthe second beam d₂. Instead, one feedback bit can be used to referencethe possible power allocation values of the constrained power allocationmatrix D 312.

If the design of the power allocation matrix D 312 is constrained toalways allocate full power to the first stream during beamformingoperations, the codematrix selection from the unitary matrix W should beadjusted to take into account situations where the full beamformingpower should actually be provided on the second stream. This adjustmentcan be accomplished in situations where the second beam is dominant byinverting or switching the columns of the unitary matrix W prior toretrieving its corresponding quantized codematrix from the codebook forW. Conversely, if the power allocation matrix D 312 is constrained toalways allocate full power to the second stream during beamformingoperations, the codematrix selection for the unitary matrix W isadjusted to take into account situations where the full beamformingpower should actually be provided on the second stream. The swapping ofchannel eigenvector positions prior to accessing the unitary matrix W314 does not impair the function of the unitary matrix W 314, which isto resolve the MIMO channel into parallel spatial channels. In addition,this swapping technique facilitates the switching between spatialmultiplexing and beamforming by reducing the size of the requiredfeedback information for accessing the power allocation matrix D 312.

As a generalization of the foregoing, the techniques described hereinmay be extended to other MIMO channel configurations. For example, with4×4 MIMO channel, a single feedback bit can be used for powerallocation, where a “1” value for the feedback bit indicates beamformingfor the rearranged dominant stream, and where a “0” value indicatesequal power (e.g., ¼ power) on all streams. By constraining the designof the power allocation matrix D 312 so that the first beam provides thehighest power level, the second beam provides the next highest powerlevel, and so on, the size of the precoder index 316 may be reduced solong a the beams are swapped and re-sorted accordingly prior toretrieving codematrix values from the unitary matrix W 314. As a result,in the case where the jth beam is dominant, the first and jth beams areswapped, and likewise, the remaining beams are repositioned to reflectthe power level ranking constraints of the power allocation matrix D 312prior to accessing the unitary codebook W. If desired, additionalfeedback bits can be used to indicate m power levels. In an exampleembodiment, an ‘n’ bit codebook for the power allocation matrix D 312may be used to specify the power levels for each stream that areselected from a finite set of m power levels (e.g., 100%, 80%, 60%,etc.). The resulting codebook contains m̂(n-1) entries which can beselected with log 2(m̂(n-1)) bits.

The switching is further facilitated by including an identity matrix asan entry of the unitary codebook W 314. For example, if one entry of theunitary codebook W 314 is an identity matrix, the identity matrix entrycan be used, along with the equal-power-per-beam power allocation fromcodebook D 312, for the case of open-loop transmission. This allowsswitching between open loop and closed loop transmission at the physicallayer.

While FIG. 3 depicts the precoder 302 as being located at thetransmitter station 301, it will be appreciated that each user orreceiver station 307.i may also include its own precoder which, invarious embodiments, may be implemented as a codebook 306.i. Where thechannels are not reciprocal in both directions (for example, in the caseof an FDD system), each station can generate a precoder index whichrepresents (in quantized form) the precoding information generated atthe station. The precoder index is then fed back to the other stationwhich applies the precoder index to its precoder to retrieve precodinginformation that is applied to a data signal that is being transmittedby the other station. Where the receiver station 307.i includes aprecoder codebook and the transmitter station 301 is able to directlyestimate the channel information for the channel between the transmitterstation 301 and receiver station 307.i (for example, in the case of aTDD system), the transmitter station 301 can itself determine thetransmission profile to be applied to the input data signals transmittedby the transmitter station 301. By having the transmitter quantize thetransmission profile into a precoder index which is then fed forward tothe receiver station 307.i, the receiver station can use the precoderindex to retrieve the corresponding transmission profile from thereceiver codebook for purposes of processing the signal received at thereceiver station 307.i. In accordance with the foregoing, thetransmitter station 301 and/or receiver station 307.i include aprocessor, software executed by the processor, and other hardware thatallow the processes used for communication and any other functionsperformed by the transmitter station 301 and each of receiver stations307.i.

In addition to enabling codebook-based precoding with a reducedfeedback, the use of a precoder at the receiver 307.i allows thereceiver 307.i. to decide whether to use beamforming or spatialmultiplexing precoding to be made, and also when to use open looptransmission or use closed loop transmission with codebook preceding.This accelerates the precoding processing by avoiding the delay causedwhen transmission-related decisions (such as whether to use spatialmultiplexing or beamforming or whether to use closed loop or open looptransmission) are made in the upper software layers (e.g., the MAClayer) of the transmitter station 301.

FIG. 4 depicts a generalized non-unitary precoding methodology forgenerating and feeding back a precoder index. As a preliminary step (notshown), the MIMO transmission channel to a given receiver station isestimated. Generally, a transmission channel can be estimated byembedding a set of predetermined symbols, known as training symbols, ata transmitter station and processing the training symbols at a receiverstation to produce a set of initial channel estimates. In this example,the MIMO transmission channel being estimated at the receiver stationmay be characterized as a channel matrix H. The singular valuedecomposition (SVD) of the MIMO channel matrix H=U Λ V^(H), where thematrix U is a left eigen matrix representing the receive signaldirection, the matrix Λ represents the strength (or gain) of the channeland the matrix V is a right eigen matrix representing the transmitsignal direction.

In one of several embodiments, at the receiver station, precodinginformation is generated based on the channel estimate information,beginning with step 402, where the channel eigenvectors from theestimated MIMO channel are used to choose the optimal unitary codematrixfrom the W codebook and to compute the signal to interference plus noiseratio (SINR) for each spatial channel or beam. While any desiredoptimization technique may be used, the unitary codematrix that isclosest to the right eigen matrix V based on a predetermined metric suchas ‘chordal distance’ may be selected as the optimal unitary codematrix.Likewise, any desired algorithm may be used to compute the SINR for eachstream.

Based on the chosen unitary codematrix, the power allocation precodingmay also be selected, either separately or in combination with theselection of the AMC level/scheme. In an example embodiment where thereceiver station chooses the parameters for unitary preceding, powerallocation and adaptive modulation and channel coding, the precodingprocess begins by selecting the first column of the power allocationcodebook for D (step 404). Next, the receiver station computes thecorresponding receive SINRs for the spatial channels (step 406) usingany desired SINR computation technique. The receiver station can thenuse the receive SINRs and a required packet error rate (PER) to computeAMC information by determining the modulation order and coding rate froma known set of PER vs. SINR curves (step 408). In addition, the power orspectrum efficiency (bits/s/Hz) for the selected column is computed(step 410). If the other columns of the power allocation codebook for Dhave not been processed (negative outcome to decision block 412), theprocess is repeated by selecting the other columns of the powerallocation codebook for D (step 414) and repeating steps 406, 408 and410 until there are no more columns to process (affirmative outcome todecision block 412).

Once the entire power allocation codebook for D has been processed, thecolumn in the codebook for D having the largest power or spectrumefficiency is chosen (step 416). By virtue of the constrained design ofthe power allocation codebook for D, one of the columns indicates thatthe precoding will use a beamforming power allocation and the othercolumn indicates that the precoding will use a spatial multiplexingpower allocation.

At this point in the process, the precoding power allocation (andpossibly AMC precoding) have been selected on the basis of the optimalunitary matrix chosen at step 402. In accordance with variousembodiments of the present invention, the performance of the precodingcan be improved by swapping the columns of the channel eigenvectormatrix and repeating steps 402-416. If the resultant precoding for thiscase yields a higher power/spectrum efficiency than the original case,then the precoding for the new case should be used. In addition or inthe alternative, an exhaustive search may be performed of all thecodematrices from the W codebook by performing steps 404-416 for eachcodematrix from the W codebook to determine the codematrix having thehighest power/spectrum efficiency, and in this way the optimalcodematrix from the W codebook is chosen.

Finally, the codebook indices corresponding to the chosen unitary matrixfrom the W codebook and to the chosen column in the power allocationcodebook for D are fed back (step 418), either alone or in combinationwith an AMC codebook index. In alternate embodiments when a compositeproduct codebook of all the above codebooks is used, a single index maybe fed back which indicates a codeword in the composite productcodebook. At the transmitter station, the precoding index is used toapply precoding to the input data signal along with the modulation andcoding levels if indicated in the feedback.

Selected embodiments of the present invention may also be illustratedwith reference to FIG. 5, which depicts a simplified process flow 500for feeding back a codebook-based precoder index to specify an optimalunitary codematrix value and power allocation value. As depicted,channel profile information is estimated for the MIMO transmissionchannel to the receiver at step 501. Based on the channel profileinformation, a determination is made at decision block 502 on whether touse beamforming precoding or spatial multiplexing preceding. Ifbeamforming is selected (BF outcome from decision block 502), the designconstraints of the power allocation matrix D described hereinabove mayrequire an adjustment of the channel eigenvectors (step 506) if thefirst channel eigenvector is not dominant (negative outcome to decisionblock 504). Once any necessary repositioning of the spatial beams occurs(step 506) or if none is required (affirmative outcome to decision block504), the unitary matrix index is set to specify an optimal codematrixvalue (at step 508) and the power allocation index bit is set to specifythat full power is to be applied to the first stream (step 510). Withthe indices set, they can then be fed back to the transmitter station,either alone or in combination with any AMC index (step 512).

If, on the other hand, spatial multiplexing is selected (SM outcome fromdecision block 502), the unitary matrix index is set to specify anoptimal codematrix value for use in a closed-loop transmission (at step514) and the power allocation index bit is set to specify that equalpower is to be applied to all streams (step 516). Alternatively, in thecase of open-loop transmission, the unitary matrix index is set tospecify an identity codematrix value contained in the unitary codebook W(at step 514) before setting the power allocation index bit. With theindices set, they can then be fed back to the transmitter station,either alone or in combination with any AMC index (step 512).

When a comparison is made of the spectrum efficiencies by simulatingdifferent MIMO systems using different quantized power controlfeedbacks, the simulations show that a 1-bit quantized power allocationachieves a spectrum efficiency that is similar to that for powerallocation precoding that is quantized with larger feedback indices. Forexample, when a 2×2 MIMO channel is simulated with independentidentically distributed (i.i.d.) Rayleigh fading over a narrow bandassuming an ideal precoder, a 1-bit quantized power allocation achievesa similar spectrum efficiency as the 2-bit feedback case for transmitSNR values below 13 dB, and also achieves a similar spectrum efficiencyas the 5-bit feedback case for transmit SNR values below 6 dB. Inaddition, the spectrum efficiency for a 1-bit quantized power allocationis at least as good as or better than the spectrum efficiency whereequal power is used (e.g., for spatial multiplexing without feedback).On the other hand, when a 4×2 MIMO channel is simulated with i.i.d.Rayleigh fading over a narrow band assuming an ideal precoder, thespectrum efficiency for a 1-bit quantized power allocation is not asgood as for power allocation precoding that is quantized with largerfeedback indices, and instead more closely tracks the spectrumefficiency where equal power is used. The smaller gains for the 1-bitquantized power allocation may be due to the higher diversity gain ofthe 4×2 MIMO spatial channels.

As described above, codebook feedback information is fed back to thetransmitter in the form of an index of the chosen unitary matrixcodeword, an index to choose an AMC level and a one-bit power controlfeedback index indicating if spatial multiplexing or beamforming is tobe used at the transmitter. In this way, the index for the powerallocation matrix D is effectively encoded to choose between spatialmultiplexing (SM) and beamforming (BF). However, it will be appreciatedthat other transmission profile parameters that are fed back to thetransmitter may be encoded to indicate if spatial multiplexing orbeamforming is to be used at the transmitter. For example, instead ofsending back an index to choose an AMC level, the transmitter can derivethe required AMC level from a channel quality indicator (CQI) value,such as a CINR (Carrier-to-Interference plus Noise Ratio) or SINR(Signal-to-Interference plus Noise Ratio) value. With this approach, thereceiver determines the CQI value for each stream, encodes the CQIvalue(s) to indicate whether spatial multiplexing or beamforming is tobe used, and feeds back the encoded CQI values to the transmitter.

While a variety of CQI encoding techniques can be used, FIG. 6 depictstwo example process flows 600 for encoding and feeding back CQI valuesto specify the use of spatial multiplexing or beamforming at thetransmitter. As depicted, the receiver determines a transmission channelprofile for the estimated MIMO channel (step 601), such as by usingestimated channel information for the MIMO transmission channel toretrieve a channel profile from a multi-parameter codebook. However,rather than determining a parameter for an AMC level at this point, thereceiver detects the CQI values for each data stream being sent over theMIMO transmission channel. In an example 2×2 MIMO case, there are twostreams transmitted, so two CQI values are computed at the receiver, onefor each stream.

However, rather than using a separate feedback signal to choose betweenbeamforming and spatial multiplexing, this information is encoded in theCQI values. In a first selected embodiment, a receiver in a 2×2 MIMOsystem encodes the CQI values by first choosing between spatialmultiplexing or beamforming. While any desired metric may be used, thechoice may be made by computing CQI values for both the beamforming andspatial multiplexing scenarios, and then using the computed CQI valuesto compute and compare the respective spectral efficiencies for eachscenario (decision block 602). If beamforming is chosen (BF output fromdecision block 602), the CQI values are computed by assigning thedominant CQI value (e.g., the value for the highest channel quality) tothe first stream (step 604), and using the second CQI value to indicatethat beamforming is selected by assigning a second CQI value that isbelow a predetermined threshold (step 608). For example, the second CQIvalue may be set to a predetermined value (e.g., a “BF value”) whenbeamforming is selected. If the value of the second CQI is set or forcedto a very low value (e.g., one that is much lower than possiblepractical values), then it indicates that that stream has almost zeroCQI, which in turn indicates that beamforming is selected. On the otherhand, if spatial multiplexing is selected (SM output from decision block602), the computed CQI values are assigned to each stream. As a result,the second CQI value is set to a value which is above a predeterminedthreshold and which indicates the channel quality (e.g., CINR, SINR,etc.) of the second stream (step 606). As a result, the first CQI valuewill indicate the dominant beam's CINR/SINR, while the second CQI valuewill indicate beamforming (if its value is below the predeterminedthreshold) or spatial multiplexing (if its value is above thepredetermined threshold, in which case the second CQI value indicatesthe CINR/SINR of the second stream). Thus encoded, the CQI values arefed back to the transmitter (step 610). Using this CQI information, thetransmitter can choose the AMC scheme. In addition, the transmitter canevaluate the second CQI value to determine if beamforming is selected(where the second CQI value is below the predetermined threshold) or ifspatial multiplexing is selected (where the second CQI value is abovethe predetermined threshold). As will be appreciated the predeterminedthreshold should be known to both the transmitter and receiver, and maybe chosen to separate possible practical CQI values from CQI values thatare not possible or practical. Using encoded CQI information in such away saves a SM/BF selection bit which would otherwise be required.

This technique may be extended into other MIMO channel configurations.For example, in the case of 4×4 MIMO systems, the receiver feeds backfour encoded CQI values. For each stream that is not to be transmittedon, the receiver will feed back a very low CQI value fed back. However,for each stream that is to be transmitted on, the receiver feeds backits CINR/SINR value, which the transmitter uses to choose the AMCscheme.

In another embodiment depicted in FIG. 6, the CQI values determined atstep 601 may be differentially encoded to indicate if beamforming orspatial multiplexing is chosen. In this second example embodiment, areceiver encodes each computed CQI value for a given time interval bycomparing it to the corresponding CQI value from a previous timeinterval. Based on the comparison, the CQI value is represented as adifferential CQI value at step 620 by using one of four values: up,down, same and off. The “up” value indicates that the CQI value ishigher than the previous CQI value, the “down” value indicates that theCQI value is lower than the previous CQI value, and the “same” valueindicates that the CQI value is the same as the previous CQI value. Asfor the “off” value, this indicates that the stream is to be turned off,thereby providing a mechanism for beamforming. For example in a MIMOsystem with two possible streams, the CQI feedback corresponding to onlyone of the streams is set to “off”, thereby rendering beamforming orsingle stream transmission. In general, in a MIMO system with say “k”streams, this mechanism can be used to turn “off” any stream as desired.In this way, a conventional CQI value, which might be represented withfive or more bits, is now represented as a differential CQI value withonly two bits to identify the four values. When these differential CQIvalues are fed back to the transmitter (step 622), the “up”, “down” and“same” values are used at the transmitter to derive a CQI value from theprevious CQI value. For example, if the differential CQI value indicates“up,” the transmitter derives the current CQI value by incrementing theprevious CQI value by a predetermined increment. If it is desired tohave greater flexibility in adjusting the CQI values at the transmitter(e.g., using more than a single predetermined increment to adjust CQIvalues), the CQI values may be differentially encoded using more valuesto provide a plurality of adjustment amounts (e.g., “up by 1,” “up by2,” “down by 1,” “down by two,” same and off). Though the additionalvalues will require additional bits during feedback, these values can beused to more accurately and flexibly derive CQI values at thetransmitter.

By now it should be appreciated that there has been provided a methodand system for precoding signals in a MIMO communication system. At thereceiver, channel information is estimated for the transmission channelbetween the transmitting device and a receiving device by receiving oneor more signals, where the transmission channel may be any type of MIMOchannel, including but not limited to a a 2×2 MIMO channel, a 2×4 MIMOchannel, a 4×2 MIMO channel or a 4×4 MIMO channel. Based on theestimated channel information, precoding information is generated forthe transmission channel by identifying a precoding profile from acodebook that corresponds to the channel information. As described, thecodebook includes a plurality of codewords, each of which includes atleast a unitary precoding matrix portion. In selected embodiments, theunitary precoding matrix portion includes an identity matrix value foruse with precoding for open-loop transmission in conjunction with equalpower for each of the plurality of streams. The codewords in thereceiver codebook also include a diagonal power control matrix (the Dmatrix) portion to provide power control values for the spatial streams,where a first power control value for beamforming specifies that fullpower is always applied to a predetermined one of the streams such thatthe unitary precoding matrix chosen for beamforming aligns thepredetermined one of the streams to a dominant spatial channel of theplurality of streams. In addition, a second power control value forspatial multiplexing specifies that equal power is applied to each ofthe plurality of streams. The design of the D matrix is constrained sothat the power control value for beamforming specifies that full poweris always applied to a predetermined one of the beams with zero power tothe other streams. With this constraint, precoding information may begenerated by choosing a beamforming power control value for the diagonalpower control matrix from a portion of the first codebook correspondingto the diagonal power control matrix, and then choosing a precodingmatrix value for the unitary precoding matrix from a portion of thecodebook corresponding to the unitary precoding matrix such that a firstcolumn of a chosen precoding matrix aligns with the dominant spatialchannel. In one embodiment, the D matrix contains first and secondindexed power control values, where the first indexed power controlvalue specifies a beamforming power allocation for all streams (withfull power being provided to only a first stream) and the second indexedpower control value specifies a spatial multiplexing power allocation sothat equal power is provided for all of the streams. In yet anotherembodiment, the codebook also includes a plurality of indexed values toindicate modulation and coding used on the streams. In anotherembodiment, the codebook portion corresponding to the diagonal powercontrol matrix contains m̂(n-1) indexed power control entriescorresponding to each stream taking one of m power levels and which maybe accessed by an index of log 2(m̂(n-1)) bits. The codebook is used toquantize the precoding information corresponding to the first precodingprofile into a precoding index. For example, the precoding informationmay be quantized by generating a one-bit power control feedback indexfrom the D matrix to control power allocation on two beams such that abeamforming power allocation for the two beams is specified by theone-bit power control feedback index having a first value, and a spatialmultiplexing power allocation for the two beams is specified by theone-bit power control feedback index having a second value. Thesetechniques may be used to feedback the precoding index to a transmitterfor controlling its transmission, or to feed forward a precoding indexto a receiver to control its signal reception. Depending on theprecoding processing performed by the receiver, the codebook index mayinclude a first index portion for indicating a unitary precoding matrixvalue, a second index portion for indicating a power allocation value,and/or a third index portion for indicating an adaptive modulation andcoding value. When the precoding index is sent over a feedback channelto the transmitting device, it may be used to access a transmittercodebook to retrieve a second precoding profile that matches the firstprecoding profile and that is used to control transmission over thetransmission channel from the transmitting device to the first receivingdevice. In particular, the precoding index may include a quantized powercontrol value that is used by the transmitter to switch betweenbeamforming and spatial multiplexing transmission.

In another form, there is provided a communication device for precodingsignals in a MIMO communication system. The communication deviceincludes a precoding module (e.g., a processor) for generating atransmission profile for a transmission channel. The precoding module isconfigured to identify a first precoding value for a unitary precodingmatrix that corresponds to estimated channel state information for thetransmission channel and to quantize the first precoding value into aprecoding index. In addition, the precoding module computes a channelquality indicator (CQI) value for at least a first spatial stream basedon the estimated channel state information, and then encodes the CQIvalue into an encoded CQI value to indicate whether the first spatialstream is turned on or off and to indicate the CQI value for the firstspatial stream if the first spatial stream is turned on. When thecommunication device is implemented as a receiver, it can send theprecoding index and the encoded CQI value over a feedback channel to atransmitter for use in generating the transmission profile, where theencoded CQI value is used to control transmission over the transmissionchannel from the transmitter to the receiver. But when the communicationdevice is implemented as a transmitter, the transmitter sends theprecoding index and the encoded CQI value over a feed forward channel toa receiver for use in controlling processing of a signal transmittedover the transmission channel by the transmitter to the receiver. Inselected embodiments, precoding module encodes the CQI value into anencoded CQI value by setting a predetermined CQI value below a thresholdvalue to indicate that the first spatial stream is turned off. Inaddition or in the alternative, precoding module encodes the CQI valueby differentially encoding the CQI value to indicate a relative value ofthe CQI value as compared to a previous CQI value and to indicate if thefirst spatial stream is turned off.

In yet another form, there is disclosed a method and system forgenerating a transmission profile for a MIMO transmission channel. Asdisclosed, a first precoding value from a unitary precoding matrix thatcorresponds to estimated channel state information for the transmissionchannel is quantized to form a precoding index. In addition, a feedbackvalue is encoded into an encoded feedback value to indicate a number ofspatial streams to be used during transmission of a data signal sentover the transmission channel, where the feedback value representseither a power control value or a channel quality indicator value. Bythen sending the precoding index and the encoded feedback value over afeedback channel to a transmitter, signal transmission over thetransmission channel from the transmitter to a receiver can becontrolled by the feedback information which specifies the number ofspatial streams to be used during transmission.

The methods and systems for designing and using a non-unitary precodercodebook in a limited feedback MIMO system as shown and described hereinmay be implemented in software stored on a computer-readable medium andexecuted as a computer program on a general purpose or special purposecomputer to perform certain tasks. For a hardware implementation, theelements used to perform various signal processing steps at thetransmitter (e.g., coding and modulating the data, precoding themodulated signals, preconditioning the precoded signals, and so on)and/or at the receiver (e.g., recovering the transmitted signals,demodulating and decoding the recovered signals, and so on) may beimplemented within one or more application specific integrated circuits(ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processingdevices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers,microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform thefunctions described herein, or a combination thereof. In addition or inthe alternative, a software implementation may be used, whereby some orall of the signal processing steps at each of the transmitter andreceiver may be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions,and so on) that perform the functions described herein. It will beappreciated that the separation of functionality into modules is forillustrative purposes, and alternative embodiments may merge thefunctionality of multiple software modules into a single module or mayimpose an alternate decomposition of functionality of modules. In anysoftware implementation, the software code may be executed by aprocessor or controller, with the code and any underlying or processeddata being stored in any machine-readable or computer-readable storagemedium, such as an on-board or external memory unit.

Although the described exemplary embodiments disclosed herein aredirected to various MIMO precoding systems and methods for using same,the present invention is not necessarily limited to the exampleembodiments illustrate herein. For example, various embodiments of aMIMO precoding system and design methodology disclosed herein may beimplemented in connection with various proprietary or wirelesscommunication standards, such as IEEE 802.16e, 3GPP-LTE, DVB and othermulti-user MIMO systems. Thus, the particular embodiments disclosedabove are illustrative only and should not be taken as limitations uponthe present invention, as the invention may be modified and practiced indifferent but equivalent manners apparent to those skilled in the arthaving the benefit of the teachings herein. Accordingly, the foregoingdescription is not intended to limit the invention to the particularform set forth, but on the contrary, is intended to cover suchalternatives, modifications and equivalents as may be included withinthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claimsso that those skilled in the art should understand that they can makevarious changes, substitutions and alterations without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest form.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have beendescribed above with regard to specific embodiments. However, thebenefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that maycause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essentialfeature or element of any or all the claims. As used herein, the terms“comprises,” “comprising,” or any other variation thereof, are intendedto cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method,article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not includeonly those elements but may include other elements not expressly listedor inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

1. A method for precoding signals in a MIMO communication system,comprising: estimating channel state information for a transmissionchannel from a transmitting device to a first receiving device byreceiving one or more signals; generating precoding information for thetransmission channel by identifying a first precoding profile from afirst codebook that corresponds to the channel state information, wherethe first codebook comprises a plurality of codewords, where eachcodeword comprises: a unitary precoding matrix, and a diagonal powercontrol matrix to provide power control values for a plurality ofstreams, where a first power control value for beamforming specifiesthat full power is always applied to a predetermined one of the streamssuch that the unitary precoding matrix chosen for beamforming aligns thepredetermined one of the streams to a dominant spatial channel of theplurality of streams, and where a second power control value for spatialmultiplexing specifies that equal power is applied to each of theplurality of streams; and quantizing the precoding informationcorresponding to the first precoding profile into a precoding index. 2.The method of claim 1, where the first codebook is located at the firstreceiving device, further comprising sending the precoding index over afeedback channel to the transmitting device for use in accessing asecond codebook at the transmitting device to retrieve a secondprecoding profile that matches the first precoding profile, where thesecond precoding profile is used to control transmission over thetransmission channel from the transmitting device to the first receivingdevice.
 3. The method of claim 1, where the first codebook is located atthe transmitting device, further comprising sending the precoding indexover a feed forward channel to the first receiving device for use inaccessing a second codebook at the first receiving device to retrieve asecond precoding profile that matches the first precoding profile, wherethe second precoding profile is used to control processing of a signaltransmitted over the transmission channel by the transmitting device tothe first receiving device.
 4. The method of claim 1, where a codebookportion corresponding to the diagonal power control matrix containsm̂(n-1) indexed power control entries corresponding to each stream takingone of m power levels and which may be accessed by an index of log2(m̂(n-1)) bits.
 5. The method of claim 1, where quantizing the precodinginformation comprises generating a one-bit power control feedback tocontrol power allocation on two streams such that a beamforming powerallocation for the two streams is specified by the one-bit power controlfeedback having a first value and a spatial multiplexing powerallocation for the two streams is specified by the one-bit power controlfeedback having a second value.
 6. The method of claim 1, wheregenerating precoding information for the transmission channel comprises:choosing a beamforming power control value for the diagonal powercontrol matrix from a portion of the first codebook corresponding to thediagonal power control matrix; and choosing a precoding matrix value forthe unitary precoding matrix from a portion of the first codebookcorresponding to the unitary precoding matrix such that a first columnof a chosen precoding matrix aligns with the dominant spatial channel.7. The method of claim 1, where the precoding index comprises a firstindex portion for indicating a precoding matrix value and a second indexportion for indicating a power allocation value.
 8. The method of claim1, where the precoding index comprises a first index portion forindicating a precoding matrix value, a second index portion forindicating a power allocation value, and a third index portion forindicating an adaptive modulation and coding value.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, where the unitary precoding matrix comprises an identity matrixvalue for use with precoding for open-loop transmission in conjunctionwith equal power for each of the plurality of streams.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, where the precoding index comprises a quantized power controlvalue that is used to switch between beamforming and spatialmultiplexing transmission.
 11. The method of claim 1, where the firstcodebook further comprises a plurality of indexed values to indicatemodulation and coding used on the streams.
 12. The method of claim 1,where the diagonal power control matrix comprises first and secondindexed power control values, where the first indexed power controlvalue specifies a beamforming power allocation for the plurality ofstreams so that full power is provided only to a first stream with zeropower to the other streams, and where the second indexed power controlvalue specifies a spatial multiplexing power allocation for theplurality streams so that equal power is provided for all of thestreams.
 13. The method of claim 1, where the transmission channel is a2×2 MIMO channel, a 2×4 MIMO channel, a 4×2 MIMO channel or a 4×4 MIMOchannel.
 14. A communication device for precoding signals in a MIMOcommunication system, comprising: a precoding module for generating atransmission profile for a transmission channel by identifying a firstprecoding value for a unitary precoding matrix that corresponds toestimated channel state information for the transmission channel;quantizing the first precoding value into a precoding index; computing achannel quality indicator (CQI) value for at least a first spatialstream based on the estimated channel state information; and encodingthe CQI value into an encoded CQI value to indicate whether the firstspatial stream is turned on or off and to indicate the CQI value for thefirst spatial stream if the first spatial stream is turned on.
 15. Thecommunication device of claim 14, where the communication devicecomprises a receiver which sends the precoding index and the encoded CQIvalue over a feedback channel to a transmitter for use in generating thetransmission profile, where the encoded CQI value is used to controltransmission over the transmission channel from the transmitter to thereceiver.
 16. The communication device of claim 14, where thecommunication device comprises a transmitter which sends the precodingindex and the encoded CQI value over a feed forward channel to areceiver for use in controlling processing of a signal transmitted overthe transmission channel by the transmitter to the receiver.
 17. Thecommunication device of claim 14, where the precoding module comprises aprocessor for generating precoding information for a transmissionchannel.
 18. The communication device of claim 14, where the CQI valueis encoded into an encoded CQI value by setting a predetermined CQIvalue below a threshold value to indicate that the first spatial streamis turned off.
 19. The communication device of claim 14, where the CQIvalue is encoded into an encoded CQI value by differentially encodingthe CQI value to indicate a relative value of the CQI value as comparedto a previous CQI value and to indicate if the first spatial stream isturned off.
 20. A method for generating a transmission profile for aMIMO transmission channel, comprising quantizing a first precoding valuefrom a unitary precoding matrix that corresponds to estimated channelstate information for the transmission channel, thereby forming aprecoding index; encoding a feedback value into an encoded feedbackvalue to indicate a number of spatial streams to be used duringtransmission of a data signal sent over the transmission channel, wherethe feedback value comprises a power control value or a channel qualityindicator value; and sending the precoding index and the encodedfeedback value over a feedback channel to a transmitter for use incontrolling transmission over the transmission channel from thetransmitter to a receiver by specifying the number of spatial streams tobe used during transmission.